Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1912 — FLOYD ALLEN IN FIGHT FOR LIFE [ARTICLE]

FLOYD ALLEN IN FIGHT FOR LIFE

Mountaineer Caiied Cold Blooded Assassin by Prosecutor. OPENING ADDRESSES MADE | State Will Seek to Prove Conspiracy Existed to Kill Court Officers at Hillsville—Taking of Testimony Begun. Wytfieville, Va., May 3.—Floyd Allen, typical native of Virginia’s isolated hills, probably for the first time in his life, has arrived at a realization of the determination of the law when it deals with the man who Fas taken human life. Six weeks ago, when he was found guilty of a minor offense, Allen and his kin took the law into their own hands and worked their guns until four of their prosecutors and an innocent spectator were dead. At the opening of his trial for the murder of Commonwealth Attorney William M. Foster. Allen, propped up 1n an easy chair to alleviate the pain of his own wounds, heard a new prosecutor thunderously denounce him as the arch-conspirator in one of the most atrocious crimes in the history of the world. Will Try to Prove Conspiracy. J. C. Wysof. chief -counsel for the state, in his opening address characterized'the Allen gang as ruffians, outlaws and cold-blooded assassins. He laid great stress on the charge of conspiracy. “If we prove a conspiracy to kill.” herald, “it doesn't matter whether Floyd Allen actually shot Foster or not. If he entered into a conspiracy to kill the court, it doesn't matter who actually killed Foster Floyd Allen would be equally .guilty of killing Foster. the judge and the, sheriff. We intend to prove beyond reasonable doubt that these men conspired and confederated to shoot up the conrt and shoot down the law. “After they had executed the courtroom slaughter, the outlaws were heard to say on the court green: *Let's kill every one of them.' Then they fled. We intend to show that the prisoner committed eleven felonies at one time. He murdered five men and attempted to murder six others, because if there was a conspiracy be was guilty of all.” Defense Address Brief. The opening hdd*»ss of Attorney R. H. Willis for the defense was brief. He declared his client had been the victim of gross exaggerations. He denied that Allen killed Miss Nancy Ayers; it was the bullets of either Clerk Dexter Goad or one of his deputies which killed her. he said. He denied the existence of a conspiracy and declared Allen did not draw bis own gun until after he had been shot and then he drew it from his hip pocket, not from his vest pocket, beneath the sweater.

Judge D. W. Bolen of HillsTille. who had been Floyd Allen's counsel, took the witness chair and detailed the shooting at the courthouse. He declared that Claude Allen fired the first shot. S. B. Weddell, a former resident of Hillsville. said he saw Floyd Allen there the day before the tragedy. Allen told him that day. the witness declared: “I will kill Bill Foster before the sun goes down tomorrow night if I am convicted." Weddell said he had always been a close friend of the prisoner. “ Fair Trial or Shooting. Developing the conspiracy angle of their case the prosecution then called to the stand T. S. Coubon. a mountain youth and neighbor of Floyd Allen. Coubon 6aid he. was in HillsYille at the December term of court when he overheard a conversation between one Sanders McMillan and Floyd Alien. Pointing toward the courthouse. , according to the witness. Allen said: "If I don’t get a fair trial up there I will make the biggest hole in that courthouse of any that has ever been there.” McMillan replied: “Floyd, let that he the last thin* you ever do.” .. f; Allen replied: “I will do it.” Coubon stoutly adhered to bis statement despite a grilling cross-examina-tion.